Emmanuel whose interpretation is “God with us
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us” (Isaiah 7:14) (Matthew 1:23)… Thus Isaiah prophesied in ancient times, and thus it was fulfilled in the birth of the Lord Christ.
So what are the spiritual meanings that we perceive from the title (Emmanuel) by which the Lord was called in His Incarnation?!
Emmanuel
whose interpretation is “God with us”
God with us:
Beautiful is this name by which the Lord Christ was called at His birth: Emmanuel, God with us. A name that holds much consolation, for it contains much of God’s love for us.
The blessing of Christmas is this: that we feel that Christ is God with us—God in our midst, dwelling with us, and dwelling in us.
God truly loves human beings very much; His delight is in the children of men. He loves to grant the human person the joy of being with Him, and He loves the human heart as a place for His dwelling.
From the moment He created the human being, He created him in His image and likeness. He desired to make him a place for His dwelling; He desired to dwell in the heart of the human being and abide in it.
Thousands of years passed, and our good God sought to find for Himself a place in the human being, a place suitable for His dwelling. But all had gone astray and become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one… The Lord found in their hearts no place to lay His head… So what about you, blessed one?
God looks at your heart and says, “This is My resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:14). And thus the Psalmist said, “The Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation” (Psalm 132:13). And this Zion is your soul that God seeks; it is your heart in which the Lord loves to dwell.
+ The dwelling of God with humanity:
The dwelling of God with people and in their midst is an ancient story. It is the story of the Tabernacle of Meeting, in which we see God dwelling among His people. Or it is the story of the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s presence among humankind.
Just as God’s dwelling with people is a sign in the Tabernacle of Meeting, it is also a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem in eternity, of which it was said: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).
And this meaning was expressed through an even stronger analogy in His love:
He said that He is the head and we are the members, and the Apostle said of us as the Church that we are “the Body of Christ.” Perhaps such an analogy is what the Lord meant when He said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches” (John 15:5), and He asked us to abide in Him just as branches abide in the vine. And perhaps this is also part of the long prayer He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He said of His disciples: “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one… I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:23, 26). God wants you to abide in Him and He in you.
God, who dwelt in the womb of the Virgin to take from her a body, desires to dwell in your inner depths to fill you with love… The best dwelling place for God is within you. God does not delight in heaven as His dwelling, but He stands at your door knocking, waiting for you to open to Him (Revelation 3:2). And He considers your body a temple for His Holy Spirit, who dwells within (1 Corinthians 3:16). He desires to come to you and make His home within you together with the Father. See what He says: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).
God, who insists eagerly to dwell in you, speaks to your beloved soul with these touching words: “Open for Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one, for My head is covered with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night” (Song of Solomon 5:2). Imagine that God stands all this time knocking on your door, enduring dew and night’s moisture for your sake.
His true heaven is your heart; therefore He continually asks you, saying, “My son, give Me your heart…” (Proverbs 23:26).
He says to every human soul what the Psalmist said: “Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house, for the King greatly desires your beauty, for He is your Lord” (Psalm 45:10–11).
The phrase “God with us” was not intended to mean that Emmanuel was with us only during His Incarnation, but always.
Thus the Lord says: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And He also says: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). And the Lord remains with us in the endless eternity. Concerning this, He said to the Father: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am” (John 17:24).
And He reassured us of this when He said: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). And thus John the Revelator said of the heavenly Jerusalem that it is “the tabernacle of God with men” (Revelation 21:3).
To this extent, O Lord? Yes: I want to dwell with you and abide in you. I find delight in your companionship and friendship. I love to be in your midst… I am Emmanuel, God with you…
The blessing of Christmas is concentrated in the phrase Emmanuel — God with us. If you, my brother, feel that you are with God and that God is with you, then you have truly enjoyed the blessing of Christmas… Do not think that Christmas is the day we finish the fast and begin to eat! Or that Christmas is the day we celebrate the Feast Liturgy with its festive rites and hymns… Christmas, spiritually, is living with Emmanuel, who is God with us…
God wants nothing from you except your heart for Him to dwell in…
Do not think that God desires anything else from you—truly, believe me. You say: “Lord, I will give all my money to the poor.” He says: “My beloved, I want your heart; I want to dwell within you.” You say: “Lord, I will fast and abandon every sin.” He says: “I want your heart…” You say: “I will pray all night.” He says: “If you pray all night and do not give Me your heart, your prayer is of no benefit.”
All your worship and prayers are merely external acts if God has no dwelling within your heart.
God wants to establish a friendship with you. Scripture says: “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).
What a beautiful image—to imagine Enoch walking with God. And what a profound feeling to realize how God could not do without Enoch, so He took him to Himself…
Paul the Apostle explains the Second Coming of the Lord on the clouds and our being caught up to Him, and he concludes this beautiful scene with the words: “And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17–18).
Here on earth we notice a powerful aspect in the lives of the saints… they always felt themselves in the presence of God. They saw Him with them always—before them and at their right hand…
It is a repeated expression on the lips of Elijah the Prophet: “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand” (1 Kings 18:15). Which of us has felt continually that he is standing before Emmanuel, who is God with us?…
David also constantly felt God’s presence with him, saying: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:8).
What is this, O David? Is the Lord before you or at your right hand? He is with me at all times and in every place, and in every direction I feel God’s presence…
A person who feels that God is before him cannot sin; he will surely be ashamed before God. He will say: “Behold, God sees me as I act; behold, God hears me as I speak.” God has eyes like flames of fire that penetrate the darkness. If we truly felt that God is with us, it would be impossible for us to sin. Our sins are proof that we are not aware of His presence with us.
There is an incident that happened with St. Ephraim the Syrian that proves this matter. Once, a sinful woman threatened to disgrace him if he did not comply with her and commit evil with her. He pretended to agree on the condition that it happen in the city marketplace. The woman was astonished and said, “How can we do this in the market?! Do you not feel ashamed of the people around us?!”
The saint replied, “If you feel ashamed before people, do you not feel ashamed before God, whose eyes pierce the curtains of darkness?!” His words had a deep impact on her, and she repented at his hands.
Do you think, my brother, that only atheists deny God’s existence?! I assure you that in every sin you commit, you have forgotten God’s existence or denied it practically. If you truly believed in His presence before you, you would be ashamed and fearful… Emmanuel—God with us—grants us purity, chastity, and holiness at all times.
And our sense of the presence of Emmanuel, God with us, gives us courage and freedom from fear.
When Joshua began his ministry, the Lord said to him: “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you… Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:5, 9).
A person who feels God’s presence feels a great power with him that removes all fear and disturbance and grants him confidence and peace…
Someone asks you an embarrassing question, and you become afraid—and lie! Why? Because you are afraid. And why are you afraid? Is not God with you?… No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life…
The sin of fear is a sin of unbelief—unbelief in Emmanuel and His care.
David was courageous. He would say: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? … Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psalm 27:1, 3). “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6).
In these expressions we see the difference between the courage of the saints and that of worldly people. The courage of worldly people comes from confidence in their own strength; the courage of the saints comes from their confidence in the presence of Emmanuel, God with them.
The Lord appeared to Paul the Apostle in a vision by night and said: “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you” (Acts 18:10).
Paul took this statement and lived by it, filled with the power of faith… He stood before Lysias the commander, before Felix the governor, before Festus and King Agrippa. None of them could harm him. On the contrary—they feared him.
Why were you afraid, O kings and rulers, of this prisoner in chains? They answered: We did not fear him, but the God who was with him—the Lord who dwelt in him… This Paul, as a man, we could overpower; but we cannot overpower him when he says: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Lysias the commander arrested Paul—but what did he do to him? Did he harm him in any way? No. Rather, he prepared a military detachment consisting of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen, set Paul on horseback, and delivered him safely to Felix the governor in Caesarea… (Acts 23:23–24). Truly, O Lord, You are with us.
Paul stood before Felix, “and as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix trembled…” (Acts 24:25).
The governor trembled before his chained prisoner—because of the wondrous power emanating from him, from the God who was with him: Emmanuel…
Paul stood before King Agrippa, and the result was that the king said to him: “You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28). And he testified about him, saying: “This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.”
This is a glimpse of the work of Emmanuel our God, when He is with us and shatters every force that stands against His servants, so that no one harms them.
This is Emmanuel who was with the three young men in the fiery furnace:
“The fire had no power over their bodies; nor was a hair of their head singed; their garments were not burned, nor was the smell of fire on them” (Daniel 3:27), until Nebuchadnezzar marveled, saying: “There is no other god who can deliver like this.”
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Seventh Year (Issue 2), 9–1–1976 AD
